We are living in broken Britain - and almost half of us want to emigrate, says poll

Most voters believe we are living in broken Britain, according to a poll.

Nearly three fifths say they hardly recognise the country they are living in and are deeply pessimistic about the state of Britain today.

The survey shows that 70 per cent believe that society is now broken and 68 per cent believe people who play by the rules get a raw deal.

Grim picture: A street of closed down shops reflects the pessimism of the times

Many say they are worried by the pace of social change and 42 per cent admit they would like to emigrate, the Populus poll for the Times found.

Women, working-class people and Tory voters were more likely to say that they hardly recognise their own country.

Overall, 64 per cent think that Britain is going in the wrong direction and just 31 per cent believe it is on the right track.

This is a widely used measure of mood in the U.S., where 57 per cent of people think America is going wrong and 37 per cent believe it is on the right track.

It is not all gloom. Three fifths (60 per cent) of those polled say they look to the future with optimism, against 38 per cent who are looking forward with anxiety.

While 45 per cent say Britain’s best years are behind us, 50 per cent say that they are still to come.

More than half the public (55 per cent) say that their children’s lives will be better than their own, while 37 per cent say that they will be worse.

Voters’ main fire is directed at political institutions: 73 per cent say politics is broken in Britain and 77 per cent say there are far fewer people in public life that they admire than there used to be.

The poll suggests anger at MPs who have had to repay expenses.

A third say that they will vote against their local MP if he or she had been required to repay money.

David Cameron claimed yesterday that his generation of Tories were better placed than the Government to ‘fix broken politics’, and unveiled new rules that would bar former ministers in the private sector from lobbying government for two years.

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We are living in broken Britain: Most voters are pessimistic about the state of the country